Well obviously he watched the sales floor.

He swept. He dusted. He made sure the bills in the register were correct and matched what the current sales total was. He rearranged a section to fit in more with another.

Zoey didn't come down for two hours.

As he heard the door to the upstairs close and her tiny footsteps on the stairs, he tried to act natural. She had her hands behind her back as she came down. She looked right at the ground.

"Hey th-"

"I never had a best friend in high school." She interrupted.

"What?"

She didn't look at him. "There was never a guy I had lots of sex with my senior year in high school. I had a boyfriend, though. His name was Devin and he was on the football team. I only, um, started dating my senior year because nobody wanted me before then." She laughed a little. "I was, um, never really popular. A lot of people just saw me as the weird, quiet rich girl." He could see her purse her lips.

"Zoe, I don't care about-"

"He took my virginity. That was the only...the only, um, true thing I said about my 'best friend' in high school. We had sex three times before he wanted to experiment. He tried to, um, use my toes and it felt good on him. That was my only experience with a footjob before you. No, I've never had anal. I gave him two blowjobs after our sex and then he wanted to try more foot stuff."

He was silent. He heard Zoey sniffle. She rubbed her eye.

"Um, so, um, I...uh," she cleared her throat. "So I let him...do his thing. I didn't know how sensitive I was, and that was the first time I was ever, you know, played with, so, with his t-toe sucking and...when he touched me...I loved him, Tyler. He was the only one who ever called me beautiful in high school. Ever. He made me feel like I was normal. He raised me so high up." She rubbed her eye.

"A-and w-when," she cleared her throat again, "and when he...I...when I reached the end, he-" she threw her hands up in the air and let them slump back down. "when I squirted, he thought I peed on him. He...he looked so horrified. A-and I came the next day to school I got all these weird looks."

He heard her openly sob. She rubbed her eyes as tears fell to the floor, trying to wipe them away. She sniffled and she looked up at Tyler, snot coming out of her nose. She was ugly crying.

"He never even broke up with me. He j-j-just told the football team about wh-what happened, a-and it g-g-got around..."

He ran up and hugged her tightly and she immediately fell into him, sobbing into his shirt. She fell to the floor and took him with her, cradling Zoey in his arms. "Shh. It's okay, Zoey. You don't have to say anymore. Shh." He cooed.

"A-and so, more rumors spread ab-about me, and my popularity w-was never higher," she laughed through her tears, "...he said I had a weird face when g-giving a blowjob, and he- he...I...I couldn't-"

"Shh."

"I'm so sorry, Tyler. I'm so sorry." She cried more into his chest. "I'm so sorry."

He kissed her head. "You don't have to be sorry about anything. You're okay. C'mon. Let's get out of here."

"B-but--"

"Ethan won't mind. Here--" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, then stood up. "I'll go and buy a bunch of random books and then close up. Go wait in my car. I have a blanket in the back; feel free to lay down back there. It'll all be okay."

She sniffled, and then began to get up off of the floor. He extended his hand and she took it. She hugged him one last time and silently went out the door.

He turned off the heat, the lights, and flipped the sign as he faked sales throughout the day by changing around the logs on the register. Of course he made sure the total was right, but the sales never happened.

He bought two hundred dollars worth of books.

He locked the door and headed to the car.

He opened Zoey's car first and grabbed her overnight bag, tossing it inside of his passenger side. As he predicted, Zoey was laying in the back, curled up. He did nothing but open up the back and kiss her on the head before getting in the drivers seat and making it back to his house.

As he pulled in, he unlocked and opened his door first before coming back. Wrapping her bag around his back, he gently picked Zoey up.

She sniffed. "What're you-"

"Shh. Rest up. Get some sleep. I'm bringing you inside."

She was silent, but let him carry him. He made his way into his bedroom and lay her on his side of the bed. "Feel free to crawl underneath my sheets. They're a little more comfy than this little blanket," He whispered in her ear. "Get some rest."

As he began to leave the room, she stopped him at the door by speaking.

"Hey, Tyler?"

"Yes?"

She was silent for a moment.

"...I love you."

"I love you, too." He closed the door.